Until August 29th, Mucem will be hosting Picasso! With no fewer than 270 pieces, the Marseilles-based exhibition will be focused at the influence of popular arts and traditions on the work of Pablo Picasso, from his childhood in Spain to his encounters with artisan craftsmen throughout his life as an artist.

“Art obliges the artist not to keep himself apart, it subjects him to the most humble and the most universal truth. This is why true artists scorn nothing”, Albert Camus. Exctract from his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Literature, delivered in Oslo, Sweden on December 10th 1957. With this quotation from Albert Camus serving as the introduction of the presentation of the exhibition, Mucem is making its intention clear to uncover the power of attraction that the arts and popular traditions had over Picasso.

How did the artist portray his memories of his Spanish childhood, his interest in the circus, bullfighting, music, toys, doves… his affinity for traditional craftsmanship? Popular iconography that can be found throughout his work, and in every nook and cranny of his home in the hills of Cannes.

The exhibition uncovers Picasso’s roots, his everyday life and the objects close to his heart, before looking at his encounters with artisan craft. The way he took inspiration from it, before liberate himself from its constraints. “This capacity to bounce off everything; to make everything into pieces of a puzzle that is full of surprises, this is the genius of Picasso” explain the exhibition curators – Joséphine Matamoros and Bruno Gaudichon.

Picasso in the most beautiful museum in Marseilles, perhaps even all of France! Another reason to spend a few days in the sunny South of France!